The Smiley Smile Message Board

And a sick guitar solo by scott totten. nuff said.

Thought they were recording.  :o  Gotta hand it to Mike, truly a road warrior! One day in the studio, next off to aa gig back East.

Hope Scott gets well soon.

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Don't stress! Dave and Al can cover for him as the C50 is back on. ::)

http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/life/tickets-to-the-beach-boys-at-borgata-and-other-local/article_1184d058-ca15-11e2-b89f-0019bb2963f4.html

i am surprised you guys are not freaking out about this like i am. could this be the first time they played wild honey since 1972?

Umm,  they started doing it last month. Cowsill sings it. There was a thread on it and Cowssill even posted.

http://m.youtube.com/#/watch?v=lMtYa1QoawU&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DlMtYa1QoawU

Carl sang it in Madison Square Garden in '75 or '76

I was at the Garden shows over Thanksgiving when they encored with Wild Honey. 16 years old and I was like 'WOW". Great version too by Carl.

What else did they play in Englewood last night? Very glad to hear "wild honey" is still in the set...I'm fairly certain it debuted at their last gig in NJ in early April.

oops, welI I must not have seen that thread. Was it clearly labelled? I have developed this habit with this board of not clicking on a thread based on the title.

http://smileysmile.net/board/index.php/topic,15478.0.html

under m & b tour 2013

Yeah, there you go. I figured that thread would just be full of people arguing that Mike & Bruce weren't the real band and they were a bunch of greedy jerks and blah blah blah same thing we've been reading for years.

I'm kinda glad I didn't know about it in advance, it was a wonderful surprise.

Ya almost have to read every thread here, since you never know when someone will change the subject

It's gonna be the new album on Mike and Bruce's new album of rerecordings of Beach Boys classics. The lyrics are going to be changed to be more Beach Boys like, however...

While it's very cool that Cowsill loves the song and convinced Mike to do it, it's not like Carl came back from the grave and ripped it out. It's only slightly more exciting than if Papa Do Run Run had done it. If they had done it on the C50, that would have been cool.

That said, Cowsill does a great job of singing while bangin them drums.

I didn't convince Mike to do it. I was asked to sing it seeing how no one else was up to the task. Yeah it's fun to sing. So is Crying by Roy Orbison. So is I'll cry instead. I was as surprised as the rest of you here when Wild Honey was put out there. Like I've said before. I'm just the drummer. I don't think I'm Carl. OUCH on the papa dig. What'd i do to you...Enjoy the music, people.

OH! and thank you for the nice compliment at the end.  Has anyone here ever seen the norther lights?

I meant to put off topic before I asked about the northern lights

You do a fine job on the tune, John!  Love your work in the band.  Hope to see you guys if you come by the LA area in the future.

By the way, any chance you picked up the new Live album just released a couple weeks ago?  Any thoughts on it?.... is it a nice memento of the tour for you? 

Rock on!

Yeah, you nailed it John. Being a medicore bass player who can't chew gum and play at the same time, your performance knocks me out. Sorry, rather see you with all the Beach Boys vs. Mike/Bruce.

Papa played my Prom with Dean Torrance way back when so they have a special place in my heart. So not that big a slight. Rock on man.

Will check out N L.

Nope! I don't have the cd or the dvd. Without even listening, the live show for me was and is better left live.  That's how I want to remember it. It was THE best time in my touring life. I'd rather listen to an audience recording of the show. The rawness is captivating. I've heard some youtube stuff that I liked. Most, to All, with a few exceptions, live recordings get taken into the studio and everything but the drums gets re recorded. There is not one live Eagles Album. Even my own live Cowsills in concert was "sweetened" at united (ocean way) back in the day. My dad had already kicked my brother Bill out of the band for smoking pot and hanging out with guys like Waddy and Brian. So you hear my brother Bob introduce himself like he's Bill. Just BS. We weren't able to re sing much back then.  But at least it was organic and natural. OH and they didn't have auto tune either. hahahahahahaha don't ya hate that sh*t! I mean it has a place but only a dash could be fine here and there but the over use is equivalent to making a cake with just frosting or making a whole wooden table out of wood filler... just saying. But I have not heard the live album nor viewed the dvd and probably may not... man I would love to hear all the raw recordings and see the raw footage. And i wish they had recorded ALL the shows. It got better and better as it progressed...anyway. That's my story and I'm stickin to it. From the players in the Bar to big shots everywhere...enjoy the music..ALL KINDS!!!!!

 :thumbsup

If you're really John Cowsill, that was easily the best post I've ever read. It's really refreshing to be reminded the guys playing our favorite music are just as big of fans as anyone, and that you prefer that raw, live sound. You did a great job bringing it to the show I saw last year!

Smart move John. Steer clear of the terrible (IMO) live CD/DVD and just enjoy the magic of the youtube vids and your own memories  ;D

Right on, John!  You're exactly right, you guys were sounding better and better with every passing show. By Wembley, you guys were unstoppable.  Keep up the great work and see you at a show hopefully soon!

Yeah, I guess you don't really need to hear it. I was very frustrated to hear the songs that rocked like hell in concert (the car medley for example, just good ol' rock'n'roll) but whatever they did to the recordings the life is not there. The drums are not very audible like they should be imo and like they were live. Everything sounds... well, kinda flat and plastic. Just like most TV shows I see on (german) TV for the last 10 years... Flown-in applause here, studio recording there. It's even sadder when realizing that this could've been the best Beach Boys live album - or at least the second best.

But for the masses who missed it maybe it'll be great to them. There's nothing to compare it with. I just never listen to anything really. Except old recordings of all my favorite singersBeach Boys included. I can't critique the product Joe Thomas has put out. And anything I've said here is by no way a critique of said product. Just every "Live" album I put on that isn't a bootleg has been messed with. My first live Eagles album,even tho craftily done to make you think it's live, was TOTALLY re recorded and then later confirmed by a few close to the project. And plus I can't stand to hear how I played something and go "oh sh*t! I slowed down there...oh I sped up there...oh man I wish I could do that one again..." hahahaha those who play will know what I mean...hahahaha Peace to all and long live the music of our minds heart and soul

Don't worry, your playing on the album is fine. They just turned the drums too low on some spots imo.
To be honest, some songs on the new album have been messed with so much that it's hard not to realize that.
To me one of the biggest desasters is "Isn't it time". Al's part in the chorus is the studio recording (double tracked) which during the same line fades out and into a - single tracked - live recording. I was speechless when I first heard this. And I'm by no means an expert.
Some of the recordings made the rounds before as they come from the Japan show (Chiba?) that was broadcasted on japanese TV IIRC. They were already worked on but sounded ok. It just got really heavy for this album.
Anyway, it's always easy to talk about the bad parts. I guess that many people will actually enjoy a big part of the album as tehre are also good points.


BTW the unplugged stuff they did for Rolling Stone was awesome. If you haven't heard/seen that you can find a link in the Pro Shot Concerts List in my signature.

Do you know if there is a recording of the Un plugged Grammy museum show that we did? That was the night they unveiled the Beach Boys exhibit.

John, thanks for the "back in the day" story at United. Good stuff!

Speaking of off-topic, the other night I was looking at some Cowsills clips on Youtube (Rain/Park/Other Things are my favories) and saw you guys being interviewed by Joan Rivers. You guys were looser than gooses on there and having a great time! Cracked me up!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lXPK2UDpPzY

As far as I know there was some recording (filming) going on. But as of yet nothing but amateur videos have appeared and the amateur video has disappeared from youtube. All infos that I have come from this thread:
http://smileysmile.net/board/index.php/topic,14341.0.html

Would love to see/hear the event. It was near the end of the anniversary tour and everybody seemed to be in great form

These 2 phrases go very well together. Thanks again for writing your honest thoughts about WH performance, Mr. Cowsill. You definitely can't & won't be able to sing like Carl. However, no one else can do better on that song than him - it's too difficult, you know.

You seriously ask this question? Of course it's John Cowsill aka the drummer of The BBs band. Or how could it be that he has 6 stars under his name & the "Honored Guest" label? Speaking of the post itself, I tend to disagree with it because the studio re-recordings of concerts don't bother me much, I like listening to the artificial live shows, mostly they are great! Besides, I don't think there's a big difference between those & the ones with real stage sound. Nevertheless, I respect Cowsill's point of view; the story from the past is especially interesting.

Of course it is John Cowsill. You're correct.  It is candor.  And, that C50 was probably a "full-circle" fulfilling experience for him, applying all the skills he acquired, even as a prodigy drummer in his family's Cowsills band. He did his family proud.  He seems to have a natural built-in "metronome" to keep time as a performer, and as a "blend" singer. 

The real deal are  the "live" recordings done by the amateurs on YouTube.  And, I think John Cowsill is the real deal in life.  He is not Carl.  Size 18 shoes!  Even Brian can't sing like Carl.  He had that soulful R&b thing going as well as that tender yearning quality for GOK.  I think John does an masterful job with the leads and co-leads he does.

And,  I could not even imagine having the pressure of even attempting to sing a Carl Wilson lead.  It must be a humbling experience.  I would bet every one of those guys just breaks a sweat thinking of trying to sing one of Carl's leads. But, I think John does justice to Carl's work.  He does his best, consistently, at every show I've ever seen.

And, I'm all for the unfiltered and unvarnished video and sound.  It gives the real ambiance and flavor of the show, the spontaneous audience applause and enthusiasm.   ;)

You know what, Beach Girl (if I'm right, that's how "filledeplage" translates from French), I usually very enjoy what you write, lots of interesting info in your posts, even if sometimes it's very hard to understand (too many unknown terms/words & so on). And this post is no exception, many fair points you expressed here (f.ex. that Brian can't sing like Carl), but I'll stick to what I've said: I'm glad for others - including you - having a good time listening to Cowsill's rendition of WH, it's just not my cup of tea.
I actually like unfiltered video & sound. I think what I was trying to explain is that I don't see much difference between the real & re-recorded concerts. They're almost the same. I don't mind if audience responses are fake or the arrangements are re-done in the studio - with nowadays' modern technical tricks it's possible to re-create/achieve the live sound. Therefore, easy to imagine as if you're hearing the real stuff.

Yes, Range Rover - the translation is correct.   What I mean by Carl's vocal superiority is that he had not only a range but style that for whatever reason seems to excell those of both Dennis and Brian, and maybe it's unfair to compare them, but there was an "earthy" (such as Here Comes the Night)  groove as well as a "creamy smooth" in God Only Knows.  Even Dennis had Carl do a lot of his vocals.  I think his vocals became the core post 1966. And that since his passing it's been an effort to do justice to his work. JMHO

And, I do enjoy the WH by Cowsill because it's been eons since that song has been done live. It was a huge step out of the safety zone.  I think.  I like the 73/74 Sail on Sailor with Blondie and that 73/4 seems truer sonically than C50.  There is an old Blondie doing WH in England I think.  Cool as well.

And, I just converted C50 for iPhone and am wondering if I did something wrong. It does not sound like the shows I saw live, and those YouTube clips.  I'm no sound expert but played it on Harmann Kardon (old) car system, and fiddled with the controls trying to get it to sound "live." I could hear Brian, Mike (Al only on lead) and the Wondermints.  (Great singers, but not MY Boys) And Brian and Mike did not sound as wonderful they do live. Al was the only one who sounded like Al, to me. ( I hate to even write this. It feels so disloyal. )

And, I wish that they had given the production work to Al and the band members, to pick out their best versions of each song. Al did meticulous work on Postcard.  It would have been worth the wait.  

Lots has been said about ProTools and editing.  Some programs tend to "sanitize" to the point where the final version doesn't sound like the original.  They are perfect at 70 as ever.  I'm just a fan.  ;)

Am I the only huge Cowsills fan on here?

'we can fly' is a sunshine  pop masterpiece...such a fantastic album, and 'on my side'...more country tinged power pop. Total quality band

No, you're not alone. I saw them live about a month or so ago, when they were inducted into the Rhode Island Music Hall of Fame.  Great band! Still.  It was such a treat to see them.

p.s. John Cowsill and Nelson Bragg made C50 a very special event, with their precision on percussion and their obvious passion for the music. 

are there any original members left in the touring band?

who gives a damn?

Mike Love and Bruce Johnston ("principals" - defined by LiveNation)
Original - Mike
Veteran as of 1965 - Bruce

Exactly.  :thumbsup :thumbsup :thumbsup :thumbsup :thumbsup :thumbsup :thumbsup :thumbsup

Bet that BRI does!  ;)

I really love the On My Side album. In addition to some of the country-tinged stuff, I'd also add that there's a nice helping of tunes that wouldn't be out of place on a late 60s or early 70s Beach Boys album. "Can You Love?"..."The Mystery Of Life," etc, etc. Beautiful, pastoral, sublime vocals and arrangements. Bob Cowsill never really got the credit he deserved after Bill's initial departure, IMHO.

Huge - maybe. As for me, I'm a casual Cowsills fan. But what I like from their catalog I do like very much, e.g. We Can Fly (great sunny song!), Siamese Cat, Beautiful Beige, Father, Silver Threads & Golden Needles (outstanding vocal work!), Love American Style (ditto), The Fantasy World of Harry Faversham (dig the spectacle kind of singing-"narration"). In short, another good band undeservedly overlooked by the public & mass media.

From my understanding, seems to me bgas was asking about the original members of The Cowsills, coz you told the story about you going to their concert. I'm sure that everyone knows who are the original members of The Beach Boys. Actually, I'd be really surprised if such a simple fact was questioned. Esp. by one of the most knowledgeable fans/collectors like bgas.

Very sorry about that. I thought he meant the Touring Band; Susan, Bob, Paul and from what I could tell some of the children. John did join in for that occasion, which had a segment with them and another RI Music HOF band.  They still sound spectacular. 
(bgas is pretty BB savvy and I admit I was a mite perplexed.   ;)

gee I feel so warm and fuzzy all of a sudden thanxx to the two of you.....   and i get the touring cowsills to boot( which, yes, was my query)